The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has brought a stylus to flagship phones for the first time since the Galaxy Note series sailed into the sunset. But could Apple carry the torch and bring a stylus to the iPhone 14?
Well, we could write an article about how it would become the best iPhone ever, or have a balanced debate on whether or not it might happen, but we don’t want to waste your time.
It won’t happen.
A long history of iPhone stylus rumors
It feels like we’ve been hearing about iPhones getting the Apple Pencil since the beginning of recorded history. We’ve heard rumors in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 – we’ll probably hear them in 2022 too.
Those weren’t vague “iPhones might get a stylus” rumors either, and they named the devices – we’ve mostly heard it about the iPhone 11 and have now heard it a few times about the iPhone Flip as well.
And do you know how many iPhones we’ve seen in that time that actually work with the Apple Pencil? A grand total of zero. So there’s no reason to think that unlike its predecessors, the iPhone 14 will actually get a stylus.
Take rumors with a pinch of salt
We often hear crazy rumors about iPhones, but they rarely come true.
That’s because Apple tends to only offer features that appeal to the mainstream consumer – MagSafe is useful for everyone, as are 5G and 120Hz screens, three improvements we’ve seen in recent iPhones . However, leakers do not seem to have seen this memo.
Sure, for a select group of users, styluses are useful too, but not enough to introduce them to the iPhone lineup.
That’s because there are only four members of the annual iPhone family. So if one or two use a stylus, that’s a quarter or half the range they’re all touting a feature not too many people will be using.
For comparison, Samsung has many different phones in different ranges – there’s the Galaxy S, A, J, Z and M lines, each of which has countless devices. So if you don’t want a stylus in a Samsung phone, you have plenty of alternatives.
Will we ever see an iPhone with a stylus?
Never say never – it’s possible that user habits will change to make stylus more popular, or maybe more apps will be developed that use them.
But it will take time – Apple doesn’t reinvent its devices, just refines them, and it will take a few years for them to transition from the current blocky design to one with room for a stylus.
It’s also worth noting that unless another storage solution is planned, Apple actually needs to design a stylus small enough to fit in an iPhone.
We could possibly see ahead of time that the Apple Pencil tablet would become compatible with the phone to bring multi-device capabilities that could be helpful with certain types of creators and artists. But again, it’s not something we’re expecting anytime soon.
The iPhone 14 rumors have already hinted at enough upgrades that we’re no longer expecting: the lack of a notch, an increase in camera resolution, and the replacement of the Mini with an iPhone 14 Max are all we’re really expecting at the moment.
Despite the fact that the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a popular stylus phone and Motorola is steadily penetrating this market niche, we don’t see this feature catching on enough for Apple to follow suit.
- Counterpoint: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra shows that Apple should add Pencil support to iPhones
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